Photo Credit: sheilaellen

Have you grown sick of the wallpaper in your bathroom. Does the pattern mock you every time you enter? It happens. Homeowners often fall for pretty patterns only to hate them a few years later or perhaps you are the victim of someone else’s poor taste. Whatever the reason, that wall paper is going to come down.

Before stripping wallpaper be aware that sometimes wallpaper is used to hide damaged drywall or plaster.

Know going in that you may be in for a bigger job than you planned.

Wallpaper removal is one of those chores people dread and with good reason. Removing wallpaper, especially in a large room can be a giant pain in the neck. Plan for the job to take much longer than you expect in the beginning. Sometimes you’ll get lucky and great swaths of wallpaper will strip easily away, and one panel over, you’ll have to fight every inch of the way.

Most of the time wallpaper has two layers, the decorative layer and the glue paper. When removing the decorative top layer frequently separates from the bottom. You must completely remove the wallpaper before prepping your walls to paint or you’ll have a big mess on your hands. If the wallpaper has a fancy foil or vinyl surface, it will need to be scored or perforated before it can be removed. They make special wallpaper scoring tools that can be found at your local home improvement store.

If your home has plaster walls, renting a steamer may be a good option. Wallpaper steamers are simple to operate and make fairly short work out of a tedious task. Keep in mind that steamers are only a last resort for use on drywall which is quite susceptible to water damage.

A plastic or nylon scraper or putty knife can come in quite handy for working the corners loose. Sometimes you’ll get very lucky and removing wallpaper can be as easy as teasing up a corner and slowly and gently peeling the wallpaper away from the wall. Even if dry stripping seems to peel off both layers of wallpaper, it is still important to wash the walls thoroughly before painting, the adhesive will make it hard for the paint to stick to the drywall or plaster.

If the layer of glue paper is left behind. Fill an empty spray bottle with 1 cup liquid fabric softener and 2.5 quarts warm water. Work in small sections and spray fuzzy paper residue with the dilute fabric softener and scrape gently with a plastic putty knife, nylon scraper or an old gift card. Be careful not to over-saturate the wall. Once all of the glue paper has been removed, you’ll need to carefully wash the walls to remove any remaining glue residue.

Allow the wall to dry thoroughly before prepping for painting and enjoy your wallpaper- free room.